ABC news World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer is slated to begin a series of stories exploring health care costs. As noted by the Washington State Hospital Association: Health care pricing is a very difficult and confusing issue, but it’s important for patients to understand their choices and their costs. We encourage patients to learn as much as possible about their options for care and care setting, and discuss their choices with their medical team and their insurer. Furthermore, as health care consumers, we all need to consider cost when making decisions. But it’s also important to consider quality. To that end, the Washington State Hospital Association and its member hospitals provide information on both hospital pricing and quality.

Here is a link to additional resources provided by the Washington State Hospital Association:

Charge data is an imperfect reference because actual pricing can depend greatly on things like insurance provider and charity care. This data should not be considered a predictor of what an individual will pay.